J Dyson award invites entries
NEW DELHI: The James Dyson Award is opens for entries, giving students and recent graduates of engineering and design a unique opportunity to show their problem solving inventions on a global stage. Applicants must design something which solves a problem, big or small. The international winner will gain global exposure through the competition, and Rs.26, 00,000 as prize money to develop their idea.
This is the second season for the award in the country. Last year, three Indian entries made it to the international top 20 shortlist, with Asish Mohandas, Creator, Maattam being recognised as the national winner for India in 2017.
This year the annual competition will include entries from a further four nations: Mexico, UAE, Sweden and the Philippines; operating in a total of27 nations.
James Dyson says: “Young engineers and designers have perspective and unbridled intelligence that makes them incredibly adept at problem solving. Their ideas can easily be dismissed, but if nurtured and celebrated they are transformative. Developing a product or technology is a long and daunting process; the James Dyson Award celebrates the inventive young people embarking on that process. The Award champions our next generation of inventors and will propel them towards future success. I am excited to see what surprising ideas this year’s award brings.”
The competition recognises ingenious designers and engineers who challenge the status quo and do more with less.
The best inventions are often the simplest, yet provide an intelligent solution to a realworld problem.
Past winners have sought to tackle overfishing, sustainability in the clothing industry and food waste.
Last year’s International Award went to the sKan, a lowcost, early detection melanoma skin cancer device, engineered to prevent misdiagnosis.
Previously, EcoHelmet, a fully foldable paper bike helmet designed for bike share programmes took the title.
As technology advances and products become increasingly complex, we are seeing a shift towards the use of machine learning; robotics;and the fusing of software and hardware in the entries.
Last year’s India Winner was Maattam– a retrofit system for transferring patients between different rest units such as a bed or an operating table. It eliminates occurrence of secondary injuries for the patients, and reduces manual labour for the workers involved, during patient transfer.